By: VanDeaver, et al. (Senate Sponsor - Eltife) H.B. No. 1474
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 6, 2015;
May 7, 2015, read first time and referred to Committee on
Education; May 21, 2015, reported favorably by the following vote:
Yeas 10, Nays 0; May 21, 2015, sent to printer.)
Click here to see the committee vote
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the placement of money in the state instructional
materials fund and payment of the instructional materials
allotment.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Sections 31.0211(a) and (d), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) A school district is entitled to an [annual] allotment
each biennium from the state instructional materials fund for each
student enrolled in the district on a date during the last year of
the preceding biennium [school year] specified by the
commissioner. The commissioner shall determine the amount of the
allotment per student each biennium [year] on the basis of the
amount of money available in the state instructional materials fund
to fund the allotment. An allotment under this section shall be
transferred from the state instructional materials fund to the
credit of the district's instructional materials account as
provided by Section 31.0212.
(d) Each biennium [year] a school district shall use the
district's allotment under this section to purchase, in the
following order:
(1) instructional materials necessary to permit the
district to certify that the district has instructional materials
that cover all elements of the essential knowledge and skills of the
required curriculum, other than physical education, for each grade
level as required by Section 28.002; and
(2) any other instructional materials or
technological equipment as determined by the district.
SECTION 2. Section 31.0212(a), Education Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall maintain an instructional
materials account for each school district. In the first year of
each biennium [Each school year], the commissioner shall deposit in
the account for each district the amount of the district's
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211.
SECTION 3. Sections 31.0215(a) and (b), Education Code, are
amended to read as follows:
(a) The commissioner shall, as early as practicable during
each biennium [fiscal year], notify each school district and
open-enrollment charter school of the estimated amount to which the
district or charter school will be entitled under Section 31.0211
during the next fiscal biennium [year].
(b) The commissioner may allow a school district or
open-enrollment charter school to place an order for instructional
materials before the beginning of a fiscal biennium [year] and to
receive instructional materials before payment. The commissioner
shall limit the cost of an order placed under this section to 80
percent of the estimated amount to which a school district or
open-enrollment charter school is estimated to be entitled as
provided by Subsection (a) and shall first credit any balance in a
district or charter school instructional materials account to pay
for an order placed under this section.
SECTION 4. Section 43.001(d), Education Code, is amended to
read as follows:
(d) Each biennium [year] the State Board of Education shall
set aside an amount equal to 50 percent of the [annual] distribution
for that biennium [year] from the permanent school fund to the
available school fund as provided by Section 5(a), Article VII,
Texas Constitution, to be placed, subject to the General
Appropriations Act, in the state instructional materials fund
established under Section 31.021.
SECTION 5. Section 403.093(d), Government Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(d) The comptroller shall transfer from the general revenue
fund to the foundation school fund an amount of money necessary to
fund the foundation school program as provided by Chapter 42,
Education Code. The comptroller shall make the transfers in
installments as necessary to comply with Section 42.259, Education
Code, and permit the Texas Education Agency, to the extent
authorized by the General Appropriations Act, to make temporary
transfers from the foundation school fund for payment of the
instructional materials allotment under Section 31.0211, Education
Code. Unless an earlier date is necessary for purposes of temporary
transfers for payment of the instructional materials allotment, an
[An] installment must be made not earlier than two days before the
date an installment to school districts is required by Section
42.259, Education Code, and must not exceed the amount necessary
for that payment and any temporary transfers for payment of the
instructional materials allotment.
SECTION 6. This Act takes effect September 1, 2015.
* * * * *